Adventures in Woolly Wonderland

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Our Woolaballoo Yarn Bowls are much admired across the land. They are all handmade locally and have a wonderful “rustic” appearance. They are a weighty white stoneware with the Woolaballoo yarn ball logo fired into the base and outer rim in either pink, turquoise or green. Each yarn bowl has a heart shaped slot to feed your yarn through and holes to rest your needles (like chopsticks) when you are taking a break from your latest project.

These are a gorgeous gift or a terrific treat for yourself! Available to post anywhere in the UK at the current time. These are very popular and so occasionally we may have to wait for new stock to arrive as they are all handmade but we will advise you if stocks are low. We may remove them from the website from time to time but do keep looking back though as they are the ideal gift for a knitter! Why not treat your Mum this Mother’s Day?

We have really been spoilt this week as we received the first of our Woolaballoo Stash Bags in the Hexham store. Here is the first one that is available to buy in our online store right now. I can’t wait for the next batch to arrive next week.. This large, heavy duty canvas duffel bag is a stylish accessory for any crafter. It has a twisted rope drawstring fastening at the top and an adjustable handle which allows you to carry it upright or over your shoulder. It is currently only available in the colourway pictured but will be on sale shortly in a fabulous variety of shades.

This morning I have been inspired to pick up my crochet hook again and inject some colour into our lovely woolly wonderland once again. The fabulous Attic24 has jollied me along and is providing me with endless inspiration to play around with vibrant yarns.

There are literally hundreds of variations that we could play around with, adding different colourways or flowers, buttons and beads, personalising them to suit your home. This would be a fantastic gift or simply a little piece of frivolity to adorn your abode. If you would like to join us on Saturday 5 April – book your place at Woolaballoo - to avoid disappointment. In the meantime, just go outside and enjoy the sunshine. x

Today I shall mostly be working on this gorgeous design for little Alice courtesy of the fabulous MIllamia. This rainbow dress is an adaptation of the original colourways laid out in the Carlota pattern which features on the front cover of the amazing Bright Young Things Collection and can also be purchased as a single pattern from Woolaballoo.

I have chosen my own vibrant colour scheme as I was desperate to try out some of the new shades from Millamia including the fabulous Lime and Cobalt limited edition yarn shades.

It is a real delight to knit with this luxurious 100% Merino Yarn and if you haven’t yet had the pleasure I strongly recommend that you try it out. You will never look back…

Bright Young Things celebrates colour with a vibrant collection of baby and children’s knitting patterns, inspired by clashing colours and playful, quirky designs.

You will find suitable for all levels of knitter from beginners to the more experienced looking for a challenging project in this book. Designs range in size from a newborn baby through to toddlers and young children up to five years. Featuring patterns for dresses, jumpers, cardigans, outerwear, babygrows, accessories and blankets, there is certainly something for everyone!

I have already completed the back of my dress and I’m now halfway up the front and hope to have it on display in the Hexham store very soon so that you can truly appreciate the vibrant colours. It is a really feel good knit and makes me smile everytime I look at it. To find out more about what is on our needles or to post photos of your favourite Millamia knits find us on Facebook and share your projects. We would love to hear from you. x

Taking inspiration from #100HappyDays I have decided to try and pen a mini post as often as I can to welcome you back to our woolly wonderland set in the heart of Hexham, Northumberland. I have so much to tell you that I really don’t know where to begin… From now on we intend to publish a news update at least once a week to keep you up to date with everything that is going on at Woolaballoo. As well as keeping you up to speed with all the new designs, planned workshops, gift ideas, new Cube Gallery artists and lovely yarns that are arriving daily we will be sharing some free patterns and general chit-chat for those that can’t make it along to our Thursday Night Knit Stop which takes place from 7-9pm each week.

Hexham is fast becoming a hub of all things creative and Woolaballoo is no exception to this rule. Within our walls lies a hub of creativity which we will be unveiling more about in the days to come as we make our preparations for Hexham Design Week 2014.

Above is the gorgeous bespoke design which was created exclusively for Woolaballoo by A Heart Felt Gift. You can find this and an abundance of really lovely unique gifts in the Cube Gallery set within our Hexham store. Pop along and take a look and see what makes you smile. This is what made me smile today but tomorrow it will be another creative delight that will draw my eye… #100HappyDays. x

This week has seen a riot of colour exploding onto the shelves in our Hexham store. We have now got an extensive collection of King Cole Riot in stock in both Chunky and DK weights which is gorgeous for home interiors such as throws and cushions.

There are so many lovely shades to choose from that I can’t decide which one to knit up first! This week we has seen a flurry of activity in the store as we have introduced not one, not two but three new lines into our inventory and have been involved in the planning of a series of community events that will be taking place in Hexham in the coming weeks starting with Hexham Design Week which will showcase the best of what Hexham’s independent retailers have to offer.
As part of this extravaganza, Woolaballoo will be exhibiting some of exclusive knit kits on the ground floor of Dickinson’s Interiors on Beaumont Street, Hexham and will be demonstrating some of the skills that will be taught on our extensive workshop programme.throughout the summer months.

Here is a sneak preview of our latest design – the Chain Reaction Cushion Kit using the Riot DK yarn featured above. This comes with full instructions the yarn and buttons in a beautiful gift presentation pack. This will be featured alongside other gift ideas both online over the summer. I feel a little revamp of our living room is now in order, a riot of colour is about to be injected.

Last week was another busy one at Woolaballoo Hexham… We welcomed the exceptionally talented Lena Archibold of Lena’s Creations to host an Introduction to wet felting class for absolute beginners. It was so inspiring and tremendous fun was had by all. It is astonishing how a skein of Merino Tops can go from this…

to this (in such a short space of time)

and ultimately… ta dah! The final flat felted piece incorporated scraps of silk, fabric, neps and various oddments of yarn to create a gorgeous textured surface.

In the afternoon, the participants excelled themselves and created these beautiful 3D vessels. I think this could get very addictive…

We are now planning lots more workshops in the near future to extend our skills. If you are inspired and would like to take part in the next beginners workshop then give us a call on 0191 580 0103 or sign up online and reserve your place today. We look forward to welcoming you to Woolaballoo very soon. x

The Show took place from Thursday 14th through to Sunday 17th March in the newly renovated Olympia Two and West Hall a fabulous new light and airy space and hosted over 150 exhibitors from knitting brands and haberdashery suppliers to niche stores and bead stockists. The theme of the Show centred around the concept of ‘Making’ and many of the workshops encouraged visitors to try their hand at a new craft and learn a new skill. Twisted Thread , the event organisers had worked hard to provide a good mix of craft stands to cater for everyone and there really was a myriad of inspiring fabrics, textiles and yarn as well as ‘how to’ courses to help every visitor find the perfect craft project for them.

We were delighted to be joined on our Stand by the fabulous Erika Knight who was showcasing her latest design gem – a six project poster pattern – Knit for Baby. We particularly love the simple sweater layered up with a fur gilet for the little people in your life. I also have the gorgeous garter stitch blanket on my needles knit up in the lusciously soft British Blue yarn. I have chosen to trim it in French and knit the main section in the chalky pink shade aptly named pretty. All of Erika’s latest yarns are available to purchase in our Hexham store along with the poster pattern.

This supersoft gorgeous yarn knits up to standard DK tension and the poster pattern features six stunning designs including a fur gilet, a pair of leg warmers for baby, a simple jumper, a moss stitch cardi, a cute striped hat and a simple garter stitch blanket. Some of these items also feature in Erika’s Nursery Knits Collection and here is a sneaky peak at a couple of the yummy yarns knit up into mini garments for baby.

So a huge thanks must be extended to the fabulous Erika Knight who is a true inspiration to knitters across the land. Her straight forward instructions and classic designs are a pleasure to have on the needles. The hardest decision is which shade to cast on next!

The last couple of weeks have seen a real flurry of activity here at Woolaballoo. We have redesigned the workspace and are now taking bookings for pop up shops and workshops that other crafters would like to host throughout the summer months. We have also been up to our eyes in fabulous new marketing material and re-branding our beautiful woolly wonderland ahead of the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show which takes place in London next week. I will add some more detail about the workspace@woolaballoo very soon and in the meatime here is a sneak preview of the gorgeous new publicity.

We have got a whole heap of these lovely business cards winging their way to us as we speak and a lush rollerbanner which will inject a real splash of colour into our Stand F64 at Olympia from 13-17 March 2013. Here’s a little peak at the banner advertising…

I am so loving the new look and can’t wait to take delivery of these lovely items! Everything is just about ready for the show next week too and we have some gorgeous new lines to showcase. In the meantime why not pop into the Hexham store in the Market Place and take a look at some of the yummy yarn that has found its way to our door. This is just the tip of the iceberg and we have lots more fabulous plans to unveil in the weeks to come. Keep an eye on the blog and we hope to see you very soon. x

Hello again! It has been about a fortnight since I last posted and so much has happened since then that I am going to make a real effort from now on to update you on my adventures in Woolly Wonderland on a weekly basis. We have had lots of lovely new arrivals land on our doorstep and we have been busy hosting a series of Spring workshops to add some sparkle to these chilly, wintery days.

The first amazing event took place at the end of January when Woolaballoo ran our very first Magic Loop Knitting Workshop. This was really well attended and in fact, the demand was so high that we are now repeating it in a couple of weeks time. There were a series of fantastic project ideas that were undertaken during the class including a set of fingerless mitts and and a child’s beanie with cute pompoms adorning it. Subsequently, participants have tried out more ambitious projects and have experimented with making an adult sized floppy beanie – once knitting in the round and using miles of cable became second nature to them!

Below is my prototype being constructed in time for the class, knit from the bottom up, but we have now developed a top down version which means that you can adapt it to fit most head shapes and sizes. It is a great project to stash bust and use up all those odds and ends that you thought you would have no use for.

The images below illustrate how to knit up the child’s size pompom hat should you wish to have a go at home. I cast on 100 stitches using the Magic Loop method. You can watch numerous demonstrations on YouTube if you are unfamiliar with this technique. It seems a little strange at first but once you get the hang of it you will soon discover how versatile knitting in the round can be, plus there is always the added bonus of no stitching up at the end!

I then proceeded as follows: knit one round, purl one round (repeat 3 times). The next section is just plain garter stitch for 12 rounds followed by another knit one round, purl one round (repeat 3 times) section.

Very quickly the hat begins to take shape and you can adapt the pattern to fit smaller or larger heads by adjusting the number of rounds of plain garter stitch knitting you do above the second ridge. I did 16 rounds in this example before I started my decreases.

To decrease I simply knit 8 stitches, k2 together for the first round. Next I knit a plain garter stitch round. Continuing to decrease, I knit 7 stitches and k2 together, then completed another plain garter stitch round. This was followed by knitting 6 stitches and then k2 tog and a further plain garter stitch round. Continue in this way until 10 stitches remain. Knit 2 together for the final round then break off the yarn and pull the thread through the remaining 5 stitches and tie off tightly. As you can see from the image below the decreases should form a series of spokes radiating out from the top.

To complete the look it is fun to add a couple of small pompoms to the top of the hat which can be made with the remaining yarn. I made this hat with one ball of Knitcol which can be purchased in our Hexham store or online by clicking on the link above.

Great fun was had by all at the Magic Loop Workshop and one of the participants made a fabulous pair of fingerless mitts again using a single ball of the knitcol. Below you can see the finished article.

If you can knit and you can purl but you want to learn a new skill then this is the workshop for you. Give us a call, book online or pop in to the Hexham store to find out more about this truly magical trick of the trade!

Before you all start to roll your eyes and let out a deep groan having read the corporate “business speak” heading of my latest blog post, let me explain…

I stumbled upon this lovely little knitting idea whilst browsing the net and thought I would share it with you before February is upon us. The knitter who came up with this gem of an idea, has shared the conceptual knitting project on a site called Whipup today!

The end product is called Sky Scarf, which results from a whimsical adventure or process that you go through. To make a “sky scarf,” you first gather together skeins of blues and greys and white. I am going to use oddments of DK weight yarn. Each day, you pay attention to the sky and add a row to your scarf in colours that mirror the weather outside. The pattern turns 365 days of sky observations into a five-foot long scarf. Project participants around the world are making sky scarves and the conceptual knitting project documents the climate variations that emerge row by row.

I posted this photo today on our Facebook page and some of our followers suggested lovely modifications to this design including a mood scarf using shades to reflect your mood on any given day or a sunset scarf to bring in the pink and red spectrum. I love this idea and may start mine on 1st February using up oddments of yarn that I have in my stash. I think it will need to have about 35 stitches cast on if it is a DK weight yarn. I suspect given the Northumbrian climate I may have to look out several shades of grey however if the recent downpours and stormy skies are anything to go by!

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About Me

Hello, my name is Lucy and I am a thirty-something entrepreneur, wife and mum to two beautiful young children. I am also a cat herder who is seriously addicted to knitting, drinking tea and expanding my wool stash! I live in the great North East of England and run Woolaballoo, a fabulous little yarn store right in the heart of Northumberland - Welcome to my Woolly Wonderland. x

Woolly Thoughts

Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.— Unknown